Pollada

Check this out. One of the members of our church Cristo Rey (Christ the King) needed to have surgery.  Hernia repair.  Not super serious, but he was practically trembling when he came to our clinic asking "Still don't have an OR?"  Sorry man.  Still a ways off.  We're only equipped to cut as deep as subcutaneous tissue (fat) at this point.  We did have a look at the severity of the hernia under sonography which showed that he needed to get it taken care of ASAP, especially considering his work as a carpenter and that his wife was suffering from a high risk pregnancy. He bit the bullet and went through the surgery at a private clinic. The members of Cristo Rey were faithful to pray for him and his family throughout the ordeal.  We're thankful that everything went smoothly.  His wife's condition even stabilized beforehand so that she no longer had to be on bed rest.  

    Shortly after, the ladies at Cristo Rey, together with the other men from the parish wood shop arranged a fundraiser to help pay for the cost of the surgery. Now I know $700 may not seem like much to you and me, but considering that this is about three to four months wages for a typical Peruvian middle-class-working-man, and that he wouldn't be able to work for at least a month after, it's enough to keep one awake at night.  When the mission hospital is built, we hope to offer the same, high quality procedures for half the price. 

    I was absolutely amazed at how everyone pulled together to help. They had a huge barbecue, selling enormous plates of chicken with veggies for $3. They also sold drinks and many of the missionary wives baked 'American' confections rare to Peru (cupcakes and brownies) to sell to support the cause.  Many folks even came from our sister churches in and out of town!  The even lasted all day.  For hours we just hung out and talked, played frisbee, watched the kiddos chase after the wild roosters, and there was a volleyball and soccer tournament.  It was the perfect summer day and a wonderful chance for the believers in the community to get to know each other better. 





  
You probably won't find 'pollada' in your Spanish-English dictionary.  It's taken from the word for chicken 'pollo', the traditional food at these fundraisers.  From what I gather, it's conjugated in the form of past participle.  Chickened.    

    One interesting caveat was that one of this fellow's close friends had recently broken his arm in an accident (bike verses auto) and although a member of our church, had not attended in a very long while, regardless of frequent visits from pastors and missionaries encouraging him.  He did not reach out to the church after his accident (embarrassed I'm sure) and opted not to have the necessary surgery as he would never be able to afford it.  He too is a carpenter.  Now his arm has healed poorly and does not have full range of motion.  He came to the pollada.  He saw the body of Christ come together to help his friend.  I think it spoke volumes and that we'll be seeing him again at church very soon.  
    $250 was raised.  Very successful day. 

The traffic is normal.  The smoke, not so much.

Me: Hey there Mr. policía.  Good afternoon.  Sorry to interupt whatever it is you're doing on your cell phone, but I was wondering if you could tell me where is the smoke coming from?
He looks up: Oh that?  They're probably just burning trash.
Looks back down at his cell.
Me:  Really?  Looks worrisome.
Another officer overhears, hops on his motorcycle and zooms off to check it out.
Mr. Cellphone turns to assure me that they'll have a look....and then after a double-take, he begins:  Well hello there!  Good afternoon.  How are you?  Where from?  Living around here?  What do you do?....
Oh great.  Is this really worth sticking around for just to find out where the smoke is coming from?  Probably not.  But heck I don't have anywhere to be for a while.
He continues for another 10 minutes:  Now you have to be careful living around here.  Very dangerous.  Many delinquents.  Are you married?  Well why not?  Think you will marry a Peruvian?...
His partner receives an urgent walkie talkie message from inside the police truck and interrupts our delightful conversation.  The man's eyes grew:  Fire?  Fire!
He mumbles something like "Excuse, must go now" while doing a 360º spin until he finds the entrance to his vehicle and shoots off with the sirens blaring.
Dangerous neighborhood?  I wonder why?

As we were walking back to the Bethesda clinic Thursday after lunch, there was a young mom waiting for us patiently on the curb in front of our temporarily closed doors.  I had never seen her before.  She was guarding her right wrist.
"What happened?" I asked, taking a closer look at how red, swollen and deformed it was.
"I fell, 16 days ago, in the market."
"Still hurt?"
"Very much."  She jumped when I manipulated it.
"Why didn't you go to the hospital?" (You know, to ONE of the TWO small hospitals in this county of over a MILLION people?)
"I did.  They told me to make an appointment.  There weren't any openings until three weeks later."
"The x-rays didn't show any fractures?"  Her eyes grew big.
"I can't get an order for x-rays until my appointment, which isn't for another week.  You do x-rays here?"  I wish we did.  Maybe next year we'll have those capabilities.  I was kind of appalled that this poor girl suffered so long with such an easily treatable injury just because it wasn't considered an emergency to whoever triaged her at the hospital.  Don't bones ossify?  Now she'll probably have to re-break the bones in order to have them set correctly.  
I asked our Peruvian doctor, "Is this really the way things are done in Peru?"
Embarrassed nod.
"Is it because she's uninsured?"
"Actually if you have insurance, it takes even longer to be seen."
"Really?  Now what would you do if it were your wife?"
"I'd have to call a colleague."
Backwards.  We did write her an order, free of charge, to go get x-rays taken.  Stuff like this continually reminds me to pray for our mission hospital to be complete.  If you or anyone you know is interested in giving to our campaign fund to help us finish the hospital, Peruvians like this woman can have a place to go and receive the help they need.

Navidad and Casas and 2012

Well as 2011 wraps up, I'm just here packing a bag to go home for the holidays!  Before leaving though, some things needed changing.  Like casas.  I moved from something like the Soho of Trujillo, to something more like the Bronx (you know, sketchy but up and coming).  If you've ever visited us, surely you remember Senora Nila who has worked in the clinic since its foundation.  She's offered me a room at her place in a much closer neighborhood to the clinic and right across the street from where two of our obstetricians live.  As a new Christian, Nila returned from Argentina to her home town of Trujillo after her husband died of cancer in 1997.  Shortly after, she became a grandmother and then, at age fifty something, went to school to become a licensed vocational nurse.  It's obvious that she loves working at the clinic where she can use her gifts to care for the sick and also share the gospel freely.
Speaking of medical ministry, we would appreciate prayer as we go through some growing pains.  I was sure that when our missionary doctor left not many patients would continue to come, especially since we haven't had any medical campaigns in quite a while.  On the contrary, there has continued to be a rapid increase in new and returning patients every week!  This encourages us that God will keep things going strong even after our dear Dr. Julton leaves in January to specialize in surgical medicine in the United States.  Julton's plan is to return to Peru after a few years and teach surgery in the mission's hospital!  We are all so excited for him.  We have already found one new Christian general practitioner and are one the search for a few more.  Peruvian or American.  Know any?  Please pray that God brings us good, caring doctors who share our vision and help us spread the gospel through medicine.  We also are praying for wisdom that we manage our finances wisely and in obedience to the law of the land, while still being able to help those who cannot afford even our affordable care.  The trouble is that we want to help everyone but still have many taxes and  of course need to pay our Peruvian employees.  As all donations these days are being used to build the hospital, we are now running  mainly on patient revenue.  This transition has been a bit rocky but we trust that the Lord will bless our work that we are doing all for Him.
Thanks to my family, Trinity Church, Grace Reformed Church and a few other individuals, I am blessed to say that I will also be able to return to Peru in January 2012.  Huzzah!  I'm super excited that the medical team administrator is set to return to Trujillo shortly after me!  I have lots of ideas to share with him and can't wait to hear his too.  Next time I hope to tell you more about that!

Scared

She refused to go any health care establishment.  With reason too.  Those places are scary and often times chaotic, especially for one who lives a simple life in an underdeveloped project in Peru.  "But they're Christians," her grandson persuaded.  By the time this Peruvian woman arrived to our clinic and was awaiting her turn to have an ultrasound, her pain became unbearable.  Terrified to speak, she began moaning and writhing and hyperventilating.  I was sure it was a medical emergency, but upon assessment, I couldn't find anything to be abnormal (besides the pain).  She couldn't answer any of my questions.  Her grandson felt useless.  I called Dr, Julton who could find no reason for alarm but showed concern anyhow.  Pastor Percy jumped right in to help do what he does best.  Willing to receive prayer, she quietly nodded and awaited the petition to be spoken.  Her grandson became speechless as we all gathered around her and bowed our heads.  Nurse Nila held her hand after, until it was her turn for the ultrasound.  Then Dr. Julton  during the exam.  Turned out to be Kidney stones.  Not life threatening, but extremely painful.  They left with medication and a smile.

No pictures or words can do justice.

That's why it's so special to receive visitors from home who can experience life in Peru for themselves!  In September, Anna Garaway, a friend from Santa Cruz, California came and brought some much needed medicine donated by Dr. Karl Johsens.  She helped the mission move offices and did random jobs in the clinic such as entertaining children and arranging supplies.  She also accompanied me to a few beaches in Northern Peru that I had been dying to check out....

...including the one that's known for its realllly long waves.

 We helped cook for a couples dinner at the Manuel Arevalo Presbyterian church (planted by Peru Mission, and situated right next to the yet-to-be-completed Missional Hospital).  It was to honor married couples, a much need encouragement as marriage here is often considered an inconvenient and expensive nicety rather than well, biblical.  Statistics show that only 28.6% of Peruvians are married while 24.6% live with their partner out of wedlock.  There are even sectors of Peru where couple are not allowed to marry until they have lived together four years!  Pastor Wes Baker spoke at the event and did a fantastic job.

Just a few days after Anna moved on from Peru to Costa Rica, I went to pick up my dad in Lima!  Within just a few hours of being in Peru, he commented, with his Lebanese accent, "This place is so backwards, pretty much like where I grew up."  First, we flew to Cusco, did the city tour, and I got altitude sickness.  The next day we took the Peru Rail to Aguas Calientes and hiked the Inka Trail!  Well only a small fraction of it.  Next time I would like to hike the whole thing.

Money Shot from the not-so-lost-city of Machu Picchu.
That night I marinated in the mineral baths while dad enjoyed cable and wifi in the hotel room.  Then we bumped into each other in the main square and watched little Peruvian Harry Potters, princesses, spidermen and pirates chanting "Halloween!  Halloween!  Halloween!" through the streets as they searched for candy.  The next day we toured the Sacred Valley which was absolutely beautiful.   

The architecture of ruins like that of this Inkan fortress town called Ollantaytambo (on the way to Machu Picchu) inspired me to draw up in my head my dream-house made of big stones that fit just like puzzle pieces, while we road back to Cusco.

 

We had a blast eating like royalty, stocking up on handmade baby alpaca things, meeting all kinds of fun and interesting people from all over the world, and then running into them again in the markets and at the ruins and restaurants and train stations.

  After all the fun I brought my dad back to Trujillo to see Peru Mission and where I live and what I do.  The comparisons to where he group were innumerable.  We celebrated his 64th birthday and he made a Middle-East feast for my friends who in turn made frozen limeade and taught him how to salsa.  In the clinic, he painted some much needed signs for us.  The adventure of buying the paint and brushes was a fun one that I'm sure he would love to tell you about some time over a cup of Peruvian tea.

Cajamarca!

Sorry about the lack of updates as of late.  For all it's worth, I blame it on my ancient laptop that I'm too cheap to replace, lack of internet (too cheap for that too) and a very un-user-friendly blogging program.  Anywho, let's cut to the chase shall we...

Every year, since the beginnings of Peru Mission, a medical team comes from First Presbyterian church of Jackson Mississippi to Cajamarca (a beautiful but very underdeveloped city of about 217,000 people in the Northern Andes Mountains) for a week-long campaign.  This year I got to come too, along with our Peruvian doctor from the clinic in Trujillo and some other missionaries.  What a hardworking and dedicated group they were! The team included two OB/GYN's, a pediatrician, surgeon, dermatologist, two triage nurses, 5 dentists, a med student, and two medical defense attorneys and a CPA who just like to get their hands dirty. 

The first day we saw patients in Jesús, a small and even more underdeveloped town about an hour outside of the city.  They gave us the use of the government clinic for the day!  The pic above is of the team at the welcoming ceremony held in the city hall of Jesús, held just before we started seeing patients. 

 

Just about everyone in town showed up for free health care.  Anxiety was a bit high as I was assigned to translate for the OB/GYN (the one subject I almost flunked out of in nursing school).  Thanks to all who were praying for me, it all went really well.  I learned a ton about the subject I am the most afraid of in medicine, tell a few ladies the good news that they were pregnant (some were not as excited as others) pray with them, and so on.  An amazing experience.   The rest of the days we worked in the city.

I always have to remember that some of these folks probably don't know what things such as a child-proof medication bottle is, or how to open it for that matter.

 These dentists brought all the equipment that you would see in their offices in Mississippi in portable wood boxes to perform root canals, fillings, extractions, pretty much everything.

Quite a few of the wives and children of the doctors and dentists came to do VBS with the children in town.  I'm always amazed at how language barriers won't stop some people from ministering to kids.

As always, it was fun to get a taste of Southern culture while hanging out with these gems.  Here, for example, after the morning Bible devotion, everyone is singing the Ole Miss alma mater with such allegiance.  Throughout the week they would tell me about the best Southern beaches to go to, the all the places to avoid, how great the churches are there, and so on.  One gal told me that when I talk, I sound just like someone she knows from Seattle.  Woot!   

We saw over 1,300 patients in five days.  They were all so tired after waiting in line, but still so grateful.  Now we pray that the souls whom we cared for physically will also be healed spiritually in the great aftereffects of such an event in their community in the name of Jesus Christ.